4 ms·
Maybe your customers or employer would like you to save 2, 3, 5, 10x the price… My memories of McMaster from doing my hobbies is that it is outrageously expens
by Mistletoe 4y ago
Maybe your customers or employer would like you to save 2, 3, 5, 10x the price…
My memories of McMaster from doing my hobbies is that it is outrageously expensive.
- TaylorAlexander 4y agoIt depends on what you need. For basic metric nuts and bolts it seems to be the same price as a local hardware store but I don’t have to leave my office to buy the stuff.
- systems_glitch 4y agoThey also have the weird stuff the local hardware stores don't, and usually it's higher quality.
- DrudgeCorporate 4y agoTime is money and buying from McMaster has always been faster and easier than any other site. I also have yet to get an incorrect item.
- loonster 4y agoI have had an incorrect CAD model from them. (Which they fixed when I brought it to their notice). Once burned, twice shy.
- deathanatos 4y agoThis would be an immediate positive in my book. Most the bug reports I upstream to vendors go nowhere. Getting in contact with someone who can actually fix the problem, instead of just papering over it? Completely negates any downside from the original problem, in my book.
- steve_adams_86 4y agoReally, I hear nothing back from a large majority of my bug reports. It must be around 3/4 are ignore or get a template response with no solution. Solving the problem is amazing. We all make mistakes, we don’t all fix them.
- zbrozek 4y agoHonestly, not really. They want the project done sooner, and McMaster is a means to that end. The supply chain team can find a better longer term vendor later.
- soheil 4y agoLooks like an opportunity to make something as delightful and lower the prices.
- geodel 4y agoI am thinking instead of low price free would be great. They can stick on some extra ads on stuff they would be selling.
- iancmceachern 4y agoNot at all. My rate is very high, so saving a day of my time saves them way more. The burn rate on some of these projects is hundreds of thousands, millions a day. Saving time when your on the critical path (as mechanical design typically is) is worth that much. Once the design is finished there is a whole army of manufacturing engineers and sourcing folks that can drive the cost down. That's not the niche that mcmaster fills.
- loonster 4y agoIf it's a commonly used item, it would be much more efficient to pay an entry level CAD guy to draw up a parametric screw part. Add in toolsolids of all the subtracts that the component will do (taps, CBore, clearance), and supplier call outs. It starts to become efficient.
- iancmceachern 4y agoBut that's all already done for you in the mcmaster add in for solidworks.
- loonster 4y agoAh, that may be the key. (I do not use solidworks).
- shswkna 4y agoHave you done what you suggested before? In my experience, the overhead of what you suggest is significant. Leading and instructing an employee or subcontractor, dealing with learning curves, etc. It sounds nice, but the logic in the GP comment is sound (i.e. that spending 2x or 3x the price for what you get can be worth it in most cases).
- loonster 4y agoI use it everyday. It works very well. Just being able to easily switch screw sizes and having all of the taps/c'bores readjust is worth it.
- thrown_22 4y agoYou are, people ignore how much their time costs when they start "saving" money all the time.
- blitzar 4y agoNahh, postage is $12.99; I can save that by driving 5 hours each way tomorrow to collect it - unlike you wasteful people who stupidly pay the postage and have it arrive the next morning /s
- marcus0x62 4y agoFor production quantities, sure, nobody in their right mind would source from McMaster Carr (or Grainger, or any similar company,) but for their niche, they have a solid value proposition: they’ll get you small quantities of anything they carry incredibly quickly. For maintenance and repair (their primary market) or prototyping, that can be incredibly valuable.
- iancmceachern 4y agoExactly!